Sachin Tendulkar’s suggestion to CBSE: Make sports period mandatory for all classes

Tendulkar said that efforts should be made to build a strong sporting culture in the country. India is at number 3 when it comes to obesity and it is a matter of serious concern.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar praised the new policy of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which makes daily sports period mandatory for the students of class 9 to 12 and urged the board to extend it for the students of all the classes. In a letter to CBSE Chairman Anita Karwal, Tendulkar said that efforts should be made to build a strong sporting culture in the country. “India is at number 3 when it comes to obesity and it is a matter of serious concern. A young, unfit and unhealthy India is a recipe for disaster. We must build a strong sporting culture in our country. CBSE’s decision to reserve one period every day for health and physical education is indeed a right move in that direction. However, there is certainly more that can be done with this initiative,” the letter said.

The Master Blaster further added, “Since the overall objective of your initiative is preventing obesity among children, the board would also like to consider making health and fitness mandatory across all other classes as well.” According to the new sports guidelines formulated to promulgate health and physical education, it is mandatory for schools to have daily sports period. In the sports period, students will have to go to the playground and will be free to play any type of sports listed in the manual. Students will be graded on the same.

A 150-page manual has been prepared by the board. The manual contains all the details and guidelines of sports for schools for class 9 to 12. The manual also contains methodologies for implementing the guidelines.

CBSE formulated the new policy viewing the inactive lifestyle of the students. To prevent the students from having a sedentary lifestyle and from becoming indolent, board made daily sports mandatory for students of class 9 to 12 of all the schools.

Earlier a CBSE Official Told PTI, “Health is often a state of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Hence, we have decided to mainstream health and physical education for class 9 to 12 with the aim of preventing them from having a sedentary lifestyle or turn into couch potatoes.”